Improvement in check-protectors



JAMES Anm.

lmp'rovernent in Chek Protectorsi Patented March 5,1872.

FAZ

n'rnur @rrrcn JAMES ADAIR, 0F PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

`IMPRVEIVIYENT l'N CHECKPROTECTORS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 124,30),datod March 5, 1872.

SPECIFICATION.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES Anale., of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Check-Protector; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming part of this specication, in which- Figure l represents an ordinary writingtablet or table with a roughened or corrugated plate or block therein. Fig. 2 is aperspective View of my improved stylus; and Fig. 3, by a detached sectional view, and Fig. 4, by a detached side view thereof, illustrate additional devices employed therewith.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts in each.

My invention is designed to enable drawers of checks, notes, etc., to prevent the raising ofthe same, as it is called. It has become a practice, not uncommon, to alter the amount or sum of money named in a check by remo/w ing the ink which indicates the amount, and inserting a higher or larger sum. To prevent this a perforating-stamp has been resorted to, by the use of which the letters or gures indicating the sum for which the check is drawn are perforated in or through the check. Such stamps are costly, and require adjustment for each different amount. I have discovered that, by laying the check on a corrugated or roughened plate, block, or tablet, and writing thereon with a sharp-pointed stylus the rigures, letters, or characters indicative of the sum for which it is drawn, the paper of the check may be readily perforated, or its fiber so broken at short intervals that the check cannot be so raised as to escape ready detection.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, Iwill proceed to describe its construction and mode of operation.

The tablet D is made of any hard and comparatively inelastic material, and may be in form a block, plate, cr writing-stand, or it may be inserted in or connected with any suitable frame or table, a. Its upper face is corrugated, as shown, like the face of a le, or may be roughened like the face of a rasp or a block of sandstone, s o that in either casc the inequalities shall be in close proximity to each other.` In connection with this any suitable sharp-pointed stylus or writing-tool may be employed, but the construction I prefer is shown in Figs. 2 and 3, in which el is the holder, and e the loop or eye, in which is a socket or holding piece, 0,'made of India rubber or other suitable elastic and flexible material. Through this, and properly affixed therein, is the stylus f, made of iron, steel, or other hard and comparatively inflexible material, and brought to a point at its lower end.

In use the check, note, or other paper to be operated on is placed on the tablet b, and the drawer, by the stylus, writes on its face the letters, iigures, or other characters, the pres ence of which is designed to prevent the operation of raising The result is that the point of the stylus punches the paper between the ridges of the corrugations, or between the highest points of the roughened surface below 5 or, if it is not sharp enough to puncture ,the paper, it makes marks of uniform unevenness, producing a series of dotted depressions, iu'close proximity to each other, such as cannot be removed, and such as will attract the notice of the party cashing or paying the check or note, so as to put him on his guard against an alteration or raising of the written part. In either case the fiber of the paper is broken by the stylus so effectually that it cannot be restored. If it be desired that the letters or figures so punctured or impressed into the paper be also inked in, a common inking or coloring ribbon may be employed; or as illustrated in Fig. 3, the stylus f may be per forated, and the principle of the well-known fountainpen be applied to it.

The object of the socket or holding piece c is to permit the stylus f to incline forward a very little in the direction the stylus is moi-H ing, whereby the danger of tearing the paper is avoided.

It will be observed that the writingtool described consists cssentially of a handle or holder, d, which, when in use, is inclined obliquely to the face of the tablet b, and a stylus, f, which, at the same time, stands ver1d tical, or nearlyso, to the face of the tablet. This is an important feature, since, if a stylus were employed in which the axial line of the alittle below the lower end of the stylus, so

as when in use to press the paper well down onto the tablet.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A writing-block or tablet, b, having an operative face roughened or corrugated, substantially as described .and for the uses set forth.

2. In combination therewith, a sharp-pointed stylus, f, operative in making a series of holes or depressions in the line of .the letters, figures, or characters, substantially as described.

3. The combination of a stylus, f, ieXible and elastic socket or holding piece c, and holder d, substantially as described.

4. A spring7 s, arranged on a stylus, j, and in combination therewith, substantially as set forth.

5. A writing-tool, consisting essentially of a holder and pointed inflexible stylus combined together, so that, when in use, the holder shall stand oblique to the tablet or paper, and the stylus vertical thereto, or nearly so, sub stantially as and for the uses set forth.

6. A perforated stylus, j', in combination with the tablet b, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I, the said JAMES ADAIR, have hereunto set my hand.

JAMES ADAIR. Witnesses:

A. S. NronoLsoN, JAMES J. KAY. 

